The present invention relates to a fishhook sinker, and more particularly to a fishhook sinker made of iron by non-die casting.
The conventional fishhook sinker of the prior art is generally made of lead by die casting because lead is a relatively soft material, which has a greater specific gravity and is capable of being molded easily into a variety of shapes. However, lead is a heavy metal, which can not be excreted easily by an animal once it is absorbed and deposited in the animal body. As a result, lead is a potential health hazard to a worker who makes the lead fishhook weight and is also a potential environmental pollutant responsible for the death of animals in general and birds in particular. For this reason, another kind of metal, such as iron, must be used to take the place of lead for the sake of protecting the ecological balance of the planet upon which we live.
As shown in FIG. 1, there are a variety of conventional fishhook sinkers 41, 42 and 43, each of which is provided with a through hole a1. As far as the sinkers 41 and 42 are concerned, the through hole a1 is used for a fishing string to pass through. The through hole a1 of the sinker 43 is so dimensioned as to permit a wound iron wire 431 to lodge therein to form an eye 432 located outside the through hole a1. The through hole a1 is made integrally with the lead sinker by die casting. In the case of an iron sinker, such through hole can not be easily punched or forged at the time when the iron sinker is made. For this reason, it is not economically feasible to use iron to take the place of lead in making a fishhook sinker. In addition, the cost of making the prior art sinker 43 is relatively high in view of the fact that the lodging of the iron wire 431 requires additional manual labor.
Another category of the prior art sinker 44 is also shown in FIG. 1. Such sinker 44 is not provided with a through hole. A fishhook 441 is held directly by the lead sinker 44 engulfing an end of the fishhook 441. Such method of attaching the fishhook 441 to the sinker 44 can not be done with an iron sinker. As a result, the iron sinker is not a workable substitute for the lead sinker.
Technically speaking, iron can be used to make the fishhook sinkers similar to those sinkers of the prior art as shown in FIG. 1. However, the iron sinkers are not competitive in terms of the price.